Amid the shrill wail of sirens, thick smoke spread.
Scarlet flames danced and slowly spread, ugly and crawling across Holy Capital's magnificent surface like a hideous scar.
Under the guards' tear gas and high-pressure water cannons, the packed crowd cried and screamed as they fled in all directions. Those who ran the wrong way or charged toward the blockade were mercilessly beaten to the ground with rubber batons, losing all sound.
The riot was swiftly suppressed within mere minutes.
The citizens who had been utterly frenzied moments ago calmed down, then immediately turned around and pointed out the few people who had led the riot, utterly forgetting how excited they had been when following behind them.
Before the people singled out by everyone could defend themselves, they saw the guards raising their guns.
Triggers were pulled.
They fell into pools of blood. Even in death, their hollow eyes stared at the guards before them, unable to understand why they had been treated with such harshness.
The captain of the guard watched it all expressionlessly. Finally, he swept his gaze over the terrified crowd and pointed at the corpses on the ground. "Hang them up. Let everyone see what happens to those who make trouble during martial law—"
Boom!!!
Before he could finish, a muffled explosion sounded in the distance, and another plume of smoke rose into the sky.
Then another.
That was... Universal Enterprise Park, and Advance Avenue...
When everyone turned around in bewilderment and looked into the distance, they could only see columns of black smoke rising into the sky, lingering for a long time beneath the howling wind.
When dark clouds blotted out the blazing sun, pairs of scorched-red eyes became the brightest things in the world.
In the Lower District, as out-of-control gang members began smashing shops